Sharks may be unable to distinguish between colours, according to a
laboratory study published on January 18. It could benefit swimmers,
surfers and sharks themselves.

Colour vision is less
important in marine environments than it is on land.
Sharks are highly sensitive to light but cannot tell colours
apart. The study could help prevent shark attacks on humans and
develop fishing gear that could reduce accidental catches of
sharks.

Researchers in Australia, using a technique called micro-spectrophotometry,
looked at the retinal cells of 17 species of shark caught off Queensland
and Western Australia.In all 17 species, the commonest kind of light
receptors were "rod" cells, which are highly sensitive to light and
allow night vision but cannot tell colours apart, they found. Yet the
sharks lacked cone cells, which respond individually to light at
specific wavelengths. In human eyes, a variety of cone cells helps us to
distinguish between colors.In 10 of the 17 shark species, no cone cells
were found at all. Cone cells were found in the other seven species, but
they were all of a single type, sensitive to wavelengths of around 530
nanometres, which is green.

This retinal system means sharks are able to tell between shades of
grey but, most probably, not between colours,saythe investigators.
Monochromatic vision is very rare among land species, because colour
vision is a tool for survival in terrestrial habitats.But it is less
important in the marine environment, where colours are progressively
filtered out at depth and survival depends on distinguishing contrasts,
to determine whether a shape in the gloom is prey or predator.

Previous research has found that whales, dolphins and seals also
possess green-sensitive cone cells, which suggests that these marine
mammals and sharks arrived at the same visual design in parallel, says
the paper.The study, published in the German journal Naturwissenschaften,
could help prevent shark attacks on humans and develop fishing gear that
could reduce accidental catches of sharks by long-line trawlers."Our
study shows that contrast against the background, rather than colour per
se, may be more important for object detection by sharks," said lead
scientist Nathan Scott Hart at the University of Western Australia.
"This may help us to design long-line fishing lures that are less
attractive to sharks as well as to design swimming attire and surf craft
that have a lower visual contrast to sharks and therefore are less
'attractive' to them."